TODD SEAVEY
author of Libertarianism for Beginners and writer of/speaker about many other things

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Duran Duran Hussein Obama, Reptile Reptile

Bob Barr may have become Libertarian (as noted in yesterday’s entry, in lieu of a debate this week — this month’s will be on the 22nd), but Kathryn Lopez noted recently that John Taylor of Duran Duran (a band she may well like even more than I do) says he’s become pro-Obama (albeit British).

I hope she doesn’t think I was out to lunch when I wrote that NationalReview.com article that in passing called the band “libertarian.” The video for “New Moon on Monday” was supposedly a conscious anti-Communist statement, and their album Liberty was purportedly a Rand homage. Then again, all that was about two Thatcherific decades ago, and I’ve heard they’ve gotten greener since then — but then, even Canada’s coolest Objectivist rock band, Rush, has gotten greener, I’m told. Who hasn’t gotten greener in the past twenty years, may be the question.

But I don’t need Duran Duran — I’ll see Sonic Youth and the newly-reunited Feelies this Fourth of July down near the Statue of Liberty (now that’s conservatism for punks).

And in the interim, why don’t we all enjoy these fine videos by the Church (“Reptile”) and Peter Murphy with Trent Reznor (“Reptile” — but not the same song). You can disagree about which one is more beautiful, but they’re both pretty cool.

Peter Murphy lives in Turkey, by the way, so it wouldn’t be too hard to start rumors he’s Muslim (yes, he is — and he now refuses to perform old religion-themed songs from his Bauhaus days like “Stigmata Martyr,” apparently).

6 comments:

that doesn’t say much for rand-inspired music, does it? liberty bombed – i think i may be the only person who bought it when it came out (and i still own the copy). but then, reviews at the time were more interested in lebon’s rhyming of “jism” with “catechism” than the music itself.

everyone needs duran duran. especially those who think they don’t. and the skeletal mr. murphy now sports a wattle.

On the bright side, Murphy’s solo stuff is generally far more beautiful than his old Bauhaus stuff, one reason I’ve seen his solo shows about five times and only one Bauhaus reunion show (with my girlfriend at the time and I dressed as Olive Oyl and Popeye, respectively, just to give the usual goth thing a twist — and to make use of the Halloween costumes we’d failed to use).

I recall you (and/or Dan Greenberg) once said you went to a 90s Duran Duran show at which some teenage girls _didn’t know_ the “old stuff,” meaning things like “Union of the Snake,” which makes me feel as alarmingly old as I will when one of the interns at work, inevitably, sooner or later, says, “Well, Britney Spears is a little before my time.”

I mean, you expect people to say they don’t know the old stuff at, say, a Paul Weller concert or something, but with a band as pop and in as heavy video rotation as Duran Duran, it’s more frightening somehow.

Note: seeing Murphy, the Fixx, and They Might Be Giants each about five times means the acts I’ve seen most are Muslim, Luddite-green, and presumably-liberal-Brooklynites, respectively, so I’m OK with judging aesthetics separately from philosophy. Will probably see Rush one of these days, though.

i think murphy went off the musical deep end after releasing wild birds, myself. can’t listen to his new stuff at all. but the last time i saw him in concert he had the most incredible drummer, which made it all worthwhile.

speaking of bela lugosi’s dead, todd, have you seen the video for she wants revenge’s written in blood?